Something to Sing About

One of the world’s most instantly recognizable buildings is having its interior flooring coated with products supplied by Akzo Nobel.

The company’s Synteko floor finishing brand is being applied to the hardwood floors inside Sydney Opera House in Australia, which is a prestigious arts venue as well as being a world famous landmark.

Two of the performance areas have been coated so far—both measuring 500 square meters—although work can only be carried out when no shows are planned for a specific period. Synteko Solid, an oil-based coating, was selected because the timber being treated—known as Brushbox—is usually temperamental when polyurethane or water-based coatings are applied.

Synteko Solid is also a quick-drying finish—meaning minimum downtime for the auditoria—and allowing easy, low-cost maintenance to be carried out by Opera House personnel, who were extensively trained by the Synteko distributor.

Synteko—which has been producing floor finishes since the end of World War II—has also provided products for a number of other prestigious buildings, including the Palace of Auersperg in Vienna, Austria; Ljubljana Castle in Slovenia and Louis Vouitton stores in Sydney, Melbourne, Taipei, Hong Kong and the Philippines.